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Knowledge of spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel is a valuable skill to have in today’s job market. The preliminary assessment of a group of business school students shows that most of them struggle to perform simple tasks in a spreadsheet. The purpose of this paper is to propose using student tutors to teach these skills.

The authors identify students proficient in Excel as tutors and organize one-on-one peer tutoring lessons. The authors compare the Excel competency level of students prior to and after the tutoring sessions.

The results suggest that most students with minimal Excel skills significantly improve their competency level after tutoring.

The proposed hands-on approach appears to be effective in helping students acquire basic Excel capabilities.

In the DOS world, Windows 3.0 is an operating environment that utilizes a Graphical User Interface, or “GUI.” A GUI is an alternative to typing as a means of interacting with the computer and its operating system that is intended to be superior, in some ways, to the operating system itself. It is not a replacement for the operating system (e.g., DOS 3.31 or DOS 5.0). The principal features and strengths of Windows 3.0 are examined, as is a suite of programs—Word for Windows, Excel for Windows, and PowerPoint for Windows—which are collectively packaged as Microsoft Office for Windows. While not “perfect,” there is a significant advantage to the uniformity of the Windows environment.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the barriers that prevented the case study organisation, a UK manufacturing and R&D subsidiary of a European transnational company, from improving its spreadsheet‐based financial planning process.

This is an insider action research case study, using qualitative semi‐structured interviews to ask accountants their opinions on budgeting and whether the present spreadsheet‐based budgeting system could be improved. In addition, a quantitative questionnaire was used to ask managers their views on whether budgeting was a help or a hindrance.

Changes to the existing financial planning process were not implemented because they threatened to alter the existing distribution of power within the finance organisation.

The research project could not have proceeded into an implementation of change cycle due to financial constraints and because the manufacturing sites where the study took place were closed down. Further research into the organisational politics and culture of the case study organisation would have been an interesting challenge.

Consistent with previous research that existing power distribution and organisation cultures may stifle creativity and be the cause of resistance, preventing changes to accounting systems being implemented.

Why management systems are resistant to change has occupied researchers in recent times. However, there has been a dearth of action research on budgeting and financial planning, particularly insider action research. This paper contributes to the developing body of action research literature on management accounting systems.

This paper aims to propose a spreadsheet method for modeling and simulation of a retraction system mechanism for the retractable self-launching system for a high-performance glider.

More precisely, the method is based on parametric link design using Excel spreadsheets.

This method can be used for kinematic and dynamic analysis, graphical plotting and allows simulation of control kinematics with the ability to make quick and easy parametric changes to a design. It also has the ability to calculate the loads imposed on each component in the control system as a function of input loads and position.

This paper shows that it is possible to model complex control systems quickly and easily using spreadsheet programs already owned by most small companies. The spreadsheet model is a parametric model, and it gives a simple visual presentation of the control system with interactive movement and control by the user.

This spreadsheet model in conjunction with a simple CAD program enables the rapid and cost-effective development of control system components.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are used in business and government and have potentially powerful applications to the library, specifically “interior GIS” mapping of the collection itself. This paper seeks to argue for the implementation of GIS software in library collection analysis.

The paper explains GIS history, the technology, design with spreadsheet and ILS database, statistical advancements, power of the GIS connection, and the importance of “democratizing” technology for libraries.

GIS is a powerful tool for any business or organization that keeps inventory and monitors transactional usage. GIS is going to be implemented in libraries sooner rather than later. The libraries that implement GIS early will have an intellectual advantage over those coming on‐board late. GIS should be part of collection librarian technology.

Librarians can benefit from visually analyzing the collection and its use trends. GIS will allow librarians to forecast demand for future allocations, uncover collection strengths and weaknesses, and monitor statistics in a way that is impossible with current spreadsheets. Managers will be able to track interlibrary loan trends, branch and neighborhood use volumes and will be able to match use maps with building layout and design for better functionality and loss prevention.

GIS will revolutionize statistical analysis in every field it enters. It is argued in the paper to be the first modern tool for the twenty‐first century librarian, the first piece of technology to serve the librarian first, with system and user as beneficiary of the product of GIS analysis.

This paper introduces GIS to a new audience and to those familiar with GIS, applies GIS in a new direction, to the interior space of the library and its items as subject.

The subject area of the assignment is accounting education and testing techniques.

This paper details an effective method to create individualized assignments and testing materials. Using a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), the creation of the unique assignments and answer keys can be semi-automated to reduce the grading difficulties of unique assignments.

Because students are using a unique data set for each assignment, the students are able to more effectively engage in student to student teaching. This process of unique assignments allows students to collaborate without fear that a single student would provide the answers. As tax laws (e.g., credit and deduction phase-outs, tax rates, and dependents) change depending on the level of income and other factors, an individualized test is ideal in a taxation course.

The unique assignments allow instructors to create markedly different scenarios for each student. Using this testing method requires that the student thoroughly understands the conceptual processes as the questions cannot be predicted. A list of supplementary materials is included, covering sample questions, conversion to codes, and sample assignment questions.

This technique creates opportunities for students to have unique assignments encouraging student to student teaching and can be applied to assignments in any accounting course (undergraduate and graduate). This testing method has been used in Intermediate I and II, Individual Taxation, and Corporate Taxation.

This case study aims to demonstrate how proactive use of KBART guidelines can assist librarians in the analysis and restoration of journal titles with post-cancellation perpetual access.

After experiencing a 25-per cent decrease in the collection budget, the Queens College Libraries (QCL) faced losing electronic journal content with cancellations to Big Deal licensing agreements. By using tools such as Serials Solutions, Ex Libris SFX and Microsoft Excel, the library was able to optimize KBART guidelines to analyze and restore journal titles under perpetual access licensing clauses. The implemented workflow mirrored the process to create “Big Deal” renewal spreadsheets at Springer Science + Business Media.

By using KBART guidelines to manipulate and analyze data, the library was efficiently able to identify journal titles for perpetual access. Because the resulting data were formatted within KBART guidelines, it could then be transferred to a knowledge base for enhanced content discovery.

While there are numerous variations on perpetual access rights across hundreds of vendors, the workflow developed at QCL can be replicated, or altered on a case-by-case basis. By highlighting the work necessary to implement perpetual access clauses, this article makes a case for both standardizing licensing clauses as well as increased vendor adoption of KBART guidelines.

This case study examines the workflow of an Electronic Resources librarian with vendor experience, the overlap of concerns between librarians and vendors, and the ways in which to analyze journal holdings without an automated system.

Currently many jobs for undergraduate finance majors require that the student demonstrate advanced Excel modeling skills. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and explain the Excel Best Practices which should enhance their financial modeling efficiency.

The focus is a way to teach the Excel Best Practices when teaching financial modeling with Excel 2007. It uses a chronological modeling procedure that is consistent with current learning theory and the way students should use these Excel Best Practices. A capital budgeting replacement problem is used to illustrate many of the Excel Best Practices.

It was found that using a chronological modeling procedure is consistent with current learning theory.

Using the procedures mentioned in this paper should result in efficient financial modeling. Efficient models are created in less time, have fewer errors, if any, and are designed for ease of use.

A major factor to the success of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) is their ability to transport work pieces between different workstations. FMS have now become more advanced and material‐handling systems have become progressively more sophisticated, it is not exceptional to have automated steering of tools to workstations as well. Such system design will improve the tool‐handling capability and the system productivity while holding tool cost to a minimum. Tool cost could represent as much as 25 percent of the operating cost. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new colored Petri net (CPN)‐based approach to the design and development of a tool sharing control system that is intended to help use of the proper and minimal number of tools for a manufacturing system.

A new black token timed PN model is first developed, to reduce the complexity of the graphical representation a new CPN model is developed. The new CPN model also allows to find the optimal sequence. The optimal sequence has no effect on the work in process (WIP) but it influences the number of tools used in the system. The main input to the PN model for a manufacturing system is the process plan. Next, all the invariants and total number of possible elementary circuits are determined using the Integrated Net Analyzer (INA) software. Output from the INA software is exported to the Excel spreadsheet. The Excel spreadsheet can be designed to calculate the total number of tokens, processing time, cycle time, etc. of each elementary circuit. Subsequently, the constraints used in Lingo will be created according to critical circuit rules. Finally, linear programming (LP) technique is used to optimize the WIP and tool inventory. Lingo software is used for the LP, the constraints from the Excel sheet will be the input data to the Lingo program, and based on those constraints the Lingo will provide the optimal values for the desired parameters. The output from Lingo will be used to recalculate the cycle time of each elementary circuit in the Excel sheet. The system is then analyzed before and after the implementation of the CPN model.

A new CPN model based on tool‐sharing philosophy for an FMS with N part types and M stations is proposed.

The paper presents a new CPN‐based approach to the design and development of a tool sharing control system, that is, intended to help use of the proper and minimal number of tools for a manufacturing system. The new CPN model also allows to find the optimal sequence. The idea is new and pure and has not been presented before using the methodology adopted in this paper.

Stemming from the need to develop a teaching programme for the delivery of computer auditing/computerised system audit that involved a more hands‐on approach, this research describes the identification and creation of a case study, workbook and a spreadsheet of source data for students. Results indicate that students prefer using the computer‐based case study to learn practical auditing techniques.